An irascible Robert De Niro took the stand Monday in a Manhattan court battle with his former aide — and in a scene worthy of Hollywood tried to dismiss claims that he’s the boss from hell.
The 80-year-old “Raging Bull” Oscar winner rants and raves as she fends off accusations from longtime former right-hand woman Graham Chase Robinson, who has accused her of everything from unwanted physical contact to making lewd jokes about her Viagra prescription.
“This is ridiculous!” the legendary actor, dressed in a green polo shirt and jacket and wearing sunglasses, shouted dramatically.
De Niro’s lawyer, Richard Schoenstein, set the stage in his opening statement on Monday, the first day of the actor’s civil trial against Robinson, when he admitted, “This trial is going to be a little bit like a movie. ”
De Niro and Robinson’s long-running legal battle began when “The Taxi Driver” actor’s production company, Canal Productions, sued him in August 2019.
The star’s camp claims that his once-trusted employee, 41, raided the company’s coffers, binge-watching “Friends” and Netflix and even stole millions in De Niro’s travel mileage.
Robinson countered with her own $12 million lawsuit two months later, accusing her notorious boss of 11 years of sexually harassing and bullying her while expecting her to work 24/7 and play the role of “office wife.”
One of Robinson’s lawyers, Brent Hannafan, told jurors that De Niro “is a very demanding boss.
Actor Robert De Niro leaves federal court after testifying in a lawsuit filed against him by his former assistant Graham Chase Robinson.Gregory P. Mango
“He will scold him. He’s going to make his life difficult,” Hannafan said, adding that his client’s job was to do what his star boss “wanted and when he wanted.
“He called Chase ab—h to his face repeatedly,” the attorney added of the alleged verbal abuse.
De Niro also made him do physically unpleasant tasks, Hannafan said.
At one point, “He asked her to really scratch his back,” the lawyer said.
When Robinson asked him why he didn’t just use the backscratchers that were there, De Niro said, “I like the way you did it,” Hannafan said.
Robinson said he also took issue with De Niro’s allegedly misogynistic comments – including suggesting he could get pregnant using the sperm of a married male colleague.
“He would joke with Ms. Robinson about her Viagra prescription. De Niro smiled to Ms. Robinson about his young lover, who was about Ms. Robinson’s age,” the suit states.
A former assistant to Robert DeNiro, Graham Chase Robinson, who had alleged that the actor sexually harassed her while on the job, has left New York Federal Court. Matthew McDermott
But De Niro’s lawyer countered that Robinson was “always the victim” and painted him as a money-hungry ex-employee.
“It’s nice to work for a movie star, but it can be mundane,” Schoenstein said in an attempt to downplay the tasks his clients might ask of Robinson.
Robinson began working for De Niro in 2008 but claims he was “forced to resign” in April 2019 after rising to the position of vice president of production and finance.
She has alleged in her suit that De Niro assigned her “stereotypically female work tasks that were inconsistent with her position” – including putting away his boxers, washing the sheets and clearing his desk.
Robinson has also claimed that De Niro’s girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, 45, falsely accused the assistant of having an affair with De Niro while in the Hollywood legend’s company.
“Chase Robinson never had a romantic interest in Mr. De Niro. Zero, none. He’s her boss and that’s it,” Hannafan said, adding that Chen was “jealous” of their relationship.
Graham Chase Robinson is suing him for $12 million for allegedly making inappropriate comments about Graham’s gender.Gregory P. Mango
De Niro testified that he initially doubted it when Chen first told him Robinson was “in love” with him – but he’s now coming around to his girlfriend’s thoughts.
“I said I couldn’t believe that, but now, in retrospect, maybe he was right,” he testified.
When pressed about Chen’s relationship with Robinson, De Niro told jurors that his former assistant had “disrespected” his girlfriend.
At one point, another of Robinson’s lawyers, Andrew Macurdy, asked “The Godfather” actor if he wanted his girlfriend Chen to be happy.
“Aren’t you?” replied De Niro, drawing laughter from the jury.
Robinson’s attorney stated that the former assistant was De Niro’s emergency contact — and that she called him around 4:30 or 5 a.m. one morning in 2017 because he had fallen down the stairs at home and needed to go to the hospital.
Macurdy asked the actor why he didn’t get help from then-wife Grace Hightower, who was at home with him at the time.
“He’s sleeping, I don’t want to disturb him,” said the actor.
De Niro’s attorney previously claimed that Robinson had called Chen a “b—h,” “wh–e,” and “psychopath” at times — and would secretly read De Niro and Chen’s private messages.
Robinson has alleged that De Niro caused her to perform behaviors such as urinating during their phone calls and greeted her wearing only pajamas or a bathrobe.Gregory P. Mango
Evidence to be introduced by former aides at trial includes more than a dozen voicemails and several text messages sent by De Niro to Robinson, as well as texts about Robinson exchanged between De Niro and Chen, according to court records.
In a text message sent to De Niro in January 2019, Chen wrote that Robinson believed “she’s your wife.”
“His possessiveness about the house made me very uncomfortable, even the cable bill and the security system password [in] his name. It was all very weird and he wasn’t down with the weird s–t either. I think it’s getting worse,” Chen wrote, according to court papers.
“She thinks she’s your wife and I’m tired of her rearranging things and throwing mine on the floor in a mess when she decides she wants to be the ‘lady of the house’ it’s so weird and it really needs to stop.”
Elsewhere in her suit, Robinson accuses De Niro of terrorizing her with creepy behavior over the years – including when he would “pee on phone calls” with her and would greet her wearing only “pyjamas or a bathrobe”.
Robinson also claimed that she received a barrage of expletives from the A-lister, including a 51-second voicemail recording she received when she didn’t pick up the phone.
“You king do not answer my call. How dare you? You will be fired. You are king history,” De Niro said in an undated recording of the message included in the suit. “This is bulls–t. How dare you disrespect me? You must be the king of jokes with me, spoiled brat! F–k you!”
De Niro, for his part, has claimed Robinson suddenly quit his $300,000-a-year job when “suspicions arose” about his “honesty, integrity, work ethic and motivation.”
De Niro’s production company initially sued Robinson.Gregory P. Mango
After being asked a question Monday about Robinson asking for vacation time at one point, De Niro interjected, “Can I ask a question?”
Then he said, “What’s all this about vacation?”
Judge Lewis Liman warned him with a smile: “I’m the one asking the questions.”
A book review after Robinson left work found she used the company’s American Express card to spend tens of thousands of dollars on travel, iPhones, Ubers, Louis Vuitton handbags, dog sitters and expensive dinners, court papers allege.
De Niro’s suit also alleges Robinson “was covered in work hours, watching amazing TV shows on Netflix.”
After Robinson abruptly resigned, De Niro’s lawyer told jurors, the former assistant then demanded a two-year severance package, health care and even a press release announcing his departure from the company.
Robinson claims his relationship with his former boss is now beginning to sour as their negotiations continue.
He fired off an email to De Niro and his lawyer, Tom Harvey, in July 2019 threatening to get his own legal representation if they didn’t respond by a certain date, according to court filings.
De Niro raged in a text to his girlfriend, “Can you believe the chase. As I said to Tom: who does he think he is?!?!”
Chen replied, “She thinks she’s your wife. I saw it from the beginning. I told you,” to which De Niro replied, “Balls. nerves. that chutzpah. feeling entitled, how brave he is!”
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
